June 25, 2026
Faculty and graduate students from the College of Media co-presented various topics of research at the 76th annual International Communication Association Conference—the largest academic conference for communication scholars—on June 4-8, 2026, in Cape Town, South Africa. The ICA aims to advance the scholarly study of human communication by encouraging and facilitating excellence in academic research worldwide.
This year’s conference theme addressed “Communication and Inequalities in Context.” College of Media presenters included faculty in the Institute of Communications Research and the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising; graduate students in the MS advertising program; and doctoral students in the Institute of Communications Research PhD program.
College of Media research presenters and presentations are listed below in bold.
Pre-Conference: A Causal Inference Institute in Communication Studies
Organizers
- Shuning Lu, U of Maryland, College Park, USA
- Ewa Maslowska, Associate Professor, Advertising
- Harsh Taneja, Associate Professor, Advertising
When Communication Makes the Difference: From Signals to Relational Dynamics
Human-Machine Communication
“Reconsidering Gender: A Computational Examination of Conversational Dynamics between Human and Gendered AI”
- Weizi Liu, Texas Christian U, USA
- Haocan Sun, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
- Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising
Human-Machine Care: Well-Being and Vulnerability
Human-Machine Communication
“Emotionally Vulnerable Subtype of Internet Gaming Disorder: Measuring and Exploring the Pathology of Problematic Generative AI Use”
- Di Wu, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
- Haocan Sun, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
- Weizi Liu, Texas Christian U, USA
- Guoming Yu, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
- Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising
Top Papers in Human-Machine Communication
Human-Machine Communication
“Ontological Reflexivity in Human–AI Communication Research: Toward an Integration Approach Based on Theory-Ontology Alignment”
- Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising
- Jiyeon Chang, Student, ICR
- Weizi Liu, Texas Christian U, USA
Persuasion and Consumer Behavior
Information Systems
“The Brand Transparency Paradox: Consumer Reactions to Explicit Mentions of Artificial Intelligence”
- Viviana Zambrano Rodriguez, U of South Carolina, USA
- Louvins Pierre, Assistant Professor, Advertising
“Exploring How Attitudes toward AI and Disclosure Influence Purchase Intention of AI-Integrated Products through Hedonic, Social, and Epistemic Value”
- Louvins Pierre, Assistant Professor, Advertising
- Viviana C. Zambrano Rodriguez, U of South Carolina, USA
- Yanbo Li, Student, ICR
AI in News Production and Consumption
Information Systems
“Audience Perceptions of AI Newscasters: Social Presence, Trust, and Emotional Responses”
- Haochen Ji, Student, ICR
- Jiayi Wang, Student, MS Advertising
- Kevin Wise, Professor, Advertising
- Xiaoyu Xu, State U of New York at Cortland, USA
AI Taking Over: Promises and Pitfalls of AI Use in Research, Journalism, and Society
Computational Methods
“When Machines Start Writing: Assessing the Impact of Generative AI on Journalism Labor Markets”
- Sakshi Bhalla, Student, ICR
- Jennifer Henrichsen, Washington State U, USA
- Benjamin Toff, U of Minnesota, USA
Cognitive and Emotional Processing
Information Systems
“Algorithmic Temporality and Parasocial Connection: How Feed Chronology and Gaze Shape Influencer Perception”
- Veranika Paltaratskaya, Student, ICR
- Alice Ji, Student, ICR
- Kevin Wise, Professor, Advertising
Editorial Board Meeting: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC)
- Chair: Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising
MIAU-steerable AI: Trust, Adoption, Dependency, and Behavioral Regulation in Generative Tech Ecosystems
Communication and Technology
“Social Media Exit and Platform Loyalty: Generational Differences in Platform Abandonment”
- Margaret Yee Man Ng, Associate Professor, Journalism
- Ewa Maslowska, Associate Professor, Advertising
Computational Methods Research Escalator
Computational Methods
“When AI Imagines Consumers: A Computational Analysis of Representational Bias in Generative AI Brand Imagery”
- Haochen Ji, Student, ICR
Co-Constructing Trust in HMC
Human-Machine Communication
“Revisiting Trust in the Era of Generative AI: Factorial Structure and Latent Profiles”
- Haocan Sun, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
- Weizi Liu, Texas Christian U, USA
- Di Wu, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
- Guoming Yu, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
- Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising
Growing up with AI: Children’s and Adolescents’ Understanding, Trust, and Risk
Children, Adolescents, and Media
“Children and AI Mind Attribution: Reasoning and Learning with ChatGPT through Social Learning Theory”
- Boram Cho, Student, MS Advertising
- Jiyeon Chang, Student, ICR
- Michelle Nelson, Professor, Advertising
Top Papers Session
Information Systems
“Following the News: Polarization and the Networked Structure of Attention”
- Sakshi Bhalla, Student, ICR
Perception, Trust, and Bias of Artificial Intelligence
Information Systems
“Emotional and Social Drivers of Artificial Intelligence Pessimism Aversion: Extending the Appraisal Tendency Framework to AI Environments”
- Heng Zhang, Chongqing U, CHINA
- Nansong Zhou, Student, ICR
- Jer Shyuan Ng, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, AUSTRALIA
- Shiyi Zhang, Chongqing U, CHINA
Masculinities, Femininities in Digital Communication
Feminist Scholarship
“Masculine Anxiety and the Making of Racialized Nationalism in China: A Qualitative Investigation Into Sunxiaochuan Bar”
- Nini Zhou, Student, ICR
- JungHwan Yang, U of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
(Photos by Boram Cho.)